We know that HIV prevention drug Truvada works really well when taken daily. But Americans pay over $1,600 for a 30-day supply that costs less than $6 to make. Generic versions will make the med affordable. In fact, by breaking the patent on Truvada, “we could end the HIV epidemic without a vaccine,” claims a group of grassroots activists called The PrEP4All Collaboration on its website, BreakThePatent.org.

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“Roses are red, PrEP is blue, Women get HIV too.” #HIValentinesDay #HIV #AIDS #ValentinesDay #VDay

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Launched last summer, the campaign got a boost this month when activists protested on Valentine’s Day and New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who is living with HIV, called on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to break Gilead Sciences patent to exclusively manufacture the drug.

Johnson made the announcement on Presidents Day at the New York City AIDS Memorial, where he was joined by HIV activists and local politicians.

“The cost of PrEP in our country reveals something deeply rotten about our health care system, and the NIH needs to march in and break the patent immediately. This is life or death, and there is no time to waste,” said Johnson in a statement reported by NBC News.

On Valentine’s Day, PrEP4All and ACT UP New York joined together for a protest outside Cosmopolitan magazine’s offices to raise awareness that women need access to PrEP too—as well as better media coverage regarding their risks for HIV.

Also in February, the activists took to social media to criticize Gilead Sciences as it ran an advertisement for Truvada as PrEP during the broadcast of the musical Rent. “Stop pharma greed,” one ACT UP New York message read. “Truvada can prevent HIV infection, but it costs more than $1,600 a month. Help change that. Sign the petition to #BreakThePatent.”

PrEP4All points out that research into Truvada as PrEP was paid for by U.S. taxpayers through the NIH. What’s more, the group outlines a legal path to break the patent: march-in rights under the Bayh-Dole Act, or the Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act. For more details, read the POZ article “Here’s How We Can Get Universal Access to PrEP.”